Tag Archives: Whales

The Great White Sharks are Still Here

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Great White Sharks Hang out off Cape Cod

Great white shark swimmingThe sharks of Cape Cod aren’t leaving anytime soon. Our vacations may be over but according to Dr Greg Skomal of the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy August and September are active months for our Great Whites.

 It’s been A busy August

With a cool spring Shark season took its time ramping up but August was a busy month.

  • July 31: A Great White tried to snack on one of the research cameras.
  • On August 10: Chatham beach goers watch a real life “Jaws” as a Great White chomped a seal in half in clear view of the beaches.
  • August 11: Whale Watchers spotted 2 Great Whites feasting on a dead minke whale
  • August 12 : A fisherman had his catch stolen by a shark. The video became an internet sensation 
  • August 21 A Shark enjoyed a seal lunch as beach goes looked on
  • August 24 A shark tasted a paddle board off Marconi Beach.

Great White Shark

Staying Safe with Great White Sharks

There are a few things you can do to stay safe with these apex predators in the water. 

  1. Avoid swimming with the seals
  2. Swim or surf in groups
  3. Stay in Shallow water
  4. Don’t wear shiny jewelry

Great White SharkSurvey Says…..

The good news is that even with this shark activity the beach going public remains fascinated by the sharks. The Polls and surveys show that public opinion is against the politician’s ill advised suggestion that the sharks be culled. According to Chatham natives, at least some of the beaches may be monitored by balloons equipped with cameras to provide an early warning system.

 2 More Months

If the past is any indication we’re looking at 2 more months of Great White activity. The season winds down off Cape Cod at the end of October. I guess the Great Whites don’t like our winter weather any more than I do.

White Shark

 

 

 

 

 

Its Breaching Whales and Hungry Sharks

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The Whales are Breaching!

Breaching Whale off Cape Cod

Breaching Humpback Whale Stellwagen bank 2016

Last year was the first time I ever saw a whale breach here in New England. I’ve see lots of other behaviors but I always thought breaching was only in Maui, HI or Alaska. So with that in mind I went to Alaska but no breaching there. Finally last winter I spotted a breaching calf. A 2000 lb baby was leaping for joy. It was dawn and the day was still very gray. A good picture but not what I’ve been envisioning. My quest continues.

Breaching Humpback Calf

Breaching humpback calf in Maui, HI 2017

They were Breaching before my tour and after

I follow Captain John Boats on Facebook and all season I’ve been seeing posts about breaching whales on their tours. I finally got out on a tour last week but as you know from my last post, no breaching. In fact, right after my tour, there is was! Another post about a breaching whale. I know they aren’t trained performers but just the law of averages seem to favor my chances. How is it that I keep missing this amazing behavior?

Up the Stakes for a Trip that will be hard to top!

As I was sulking over my continued misses the Whale Watching trip to beat all whale watching trips hit my feed. How about whales and sharks? Yup, a recent trip delivered on the whales and then found a whale that had recently died from entanglement injuries. According to the news report it was a dead minke whale. Its always sad to see an animal that has died but nature is very harsh. But this time the passengers got to see how nature recycles. The death of one animal sustains another. What was being sustained this time? 2 Great White Sharks, that’s what!

Great White Shark

It’s Shark Week on Cape Cod

This is amazing. There is a tour company that advertises great white viewing but the folks on this whale watching trip never expected to to see a shark. This tour would be off the chart if you rated it. It delivered everything advertised and then dished up 2 great white sharks. What I would have given to be on that trip! Rating 10 +++++++ Way to go Captain John Boats!

Great White photo provided by Google Search

Captain John and the Whales

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Captain John’s Whale WatchingWhale Tail

Captain John Boats lives in Plymouth, MA and sails the seas of Massachusetts Bay and Stellwagen Banks. Why, Matey? What does the Captain John do on the bay? We be lookin’ for whales. Mostly humpback whales but also finbacks and minkes. So come on board and let me tell you a “tail” of the sea.

Whale Watching in Massachusetts

Summertime on the Massachusetts coast means whales. The evening news happily reports when the first whales of the season begin to arrive along Cape Cod. The first are usually the rare right whales. We watch them from the shore. We recognize them by their distinctive wide V-shaped blow. All the while we watch we also freeze in the early spring blustery cold.

Whale TailWith Warmer Weather come the Tours

As the weather warms the Right whales move out and the Humpbacks, Finbacks and Minkes take their place. I’ve followed the whales for 43 years through good years and bad. South of Boston there are 3 main tour companies, Boston’s New England Aquarium, Captain John Boats in Plymouth and the Dolphin Fleet out of Provincetown. It doesn’t seem to matter which one you take, they all seem to end up at Stellwagen Bank within sight of each other and the Pilgrim Tower in Provincetown.

A Whale of a Trip

Last Saturday I finally had a free afternoon. I usually prefer the morning trip out of Plymouth with Captain John. I seem to have better luck on those tours but this time I couldn’t get away until the 2 pm tour. We no sooner reached the feeding grounds of Stellwagen Banks than 3 humpbacks sounded right next to the boat. They stayed close for 3-4 dives before moving out.  We had several other humpbacks cruise along with the boat and then one tried to ride our bow! It was a very active trip and the passengers were really excited.

Riding a bow wave

Rate the Trip

If this was your first trip it was a definite 10. There were lots of whales and lots of activity. For a more experienced whale watcher it might have been a bit of a let down. There were no flipper slaps, bubble net or surface feeding, or breaches but some lovely flukes…a 5. I am so spoiled!

Gurnet Light

Gurnet Light

A Letter to Mom

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Hi Mom

I’m glad you liked the whale photo. The funny thing is that I didn’t even know I got it until I got back home. I took it on the very first whale watch I went on, the Sunrise Photo Safari!

It looked blurry on the little LED screen so I kept going out on more whale watches to try to get that breaching whale picture. They were fun anyway. Can you believe its just a baby whale? There’s nothing to show the scale but if Mama was around you’d see it’s only a little  2 ton baby!

I know you want to know what’s up for the June trip to Rangeley Lake. There’s not much to tell at the moment. I know Sandy is doing some research on the internet to see what’s in the area to do and see.

It all started when I did a search for the best time to see Moose in Maine. The article I read recommended Moose-head lake which is about 3.5 hours north of Rangeley Lake but there was no time share at Moose-head Lake so I looked into Rangeley and that was also suggested for wildlife…moose, bears, loons, foxes, eagles and the list goes on. So I booked the only accommodation that was available,  a 3 bedroom unit! (I think it’s a cabin)

I didn’t want to be rattling around in a 3 bedroom cabin all by myself. It seemed greedy somehow. I’d be keeping a family from getting away to Rangeley for their vacation. Then I thought, why not see if Sandy and Mom want to come. It less expensive since there’s no plane fare involved. There’s a kitchen so we don’t have to eat out every night. Everyone can have their own bedroom. Sandy will have her own car so no one has to depend on me if I’m off taking photos.

 

The best wildlife photos are in the early morning and late afternoon so I figured I’d have time during the day  to join you guys in things you may want to do and we’d have the evenings to just kick back.

Other than that, I haven’t thought much about the trip. I’m looking forward to us getting together like this. We don’t have much chance to do it with me in Massachusetts and you guys in New York. Sometimes it seems like we’re miles apart. Life is just so busy! This is a chance to slow down a little.

 

The Road to Hana Revisited

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What a gorgeous morning. It was quite windy but it was warm and the sky was a brilliant blue with white cloud accents. It seemed as if the storm that started my day had passed through.

I’d spotted at least 3 whales from shore so that bodes well for the boat trip on Wednesday. My UTI was either gone or in check for now so all was right with my world.

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I continued driving on RT 30. Eventually it would turn into the notorious Road to Hana, one of the top 10 deadliest roads in the world. Sandy and I drove part of it in the rain our first day in Maui in November. We then took the tour that drove us the whole way. I was willing to do the first section because that didn’t seem too bad but not the rest. Today I was just looking for the park where we saw the beautiful surf and the rainbow.

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I didn’t remember it being too far out and it was a two lane road there.

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I was stopping often to take pictures. I was seeing things I hadn’t been able to see from the tour bus or notice in the rain. It was just beautiful. I also think it was much more green than when we were there in November. Probably because of all the rain in Maui’s winter. I was really intent on what I was doing and lost track of mile markers. The resort said not to go past mile marker 38.

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Suddenly I was looking at a long downhill stretch that was one lane. OOPS! I think I went too far. I could see a line of cars stopped that were going in the same direction I was . No place to turn around either. So taking a deep breath I eased forward.

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This section wasn’t too bad and I didn’t meet any cars coming up. Probably due to the traffic jam ahead of me. I crossed the one lane bridge and started the climb up where I’d seen the cars stopped. I had a whole line of cars behind me when, close to the top, another car rounded a blind corner and we were nose to nose on one lane. A cliff face to my right and a deadly drop off to my left. Somebody was going to have to back up!

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For some reason my mind chose that moment to flash to Josh Gates and his series “Expedition Unknown”. 

We pause now for this commercial break or until I can get my panic under control!